Chapter 32: The Vampire’s Prey (32)
“You did this on purpose.”
Wei Changlin smiled but said nothing.
Yu Jiao stared at him. As she lifted her leg, her bathrobe slid down, revealing a smooth, slender leg, which she bent and pressed hard against his rigid member.
“From now on—”
She lifted her chin slightly. Her face still held the faint flush of desire, but her expression was cold.
“—You are not allowed to touch me.”
Wei Changlin’s breath hitched as she stepped on him. His peach-blossom eyes glistened, filling with a seductive, watery light.
Yu Jiao tilted her head and studied him.
She had long since discovered that this man’s tear ducts were overactive. When he got excited, he couldn’t control his tears.
Though he was tall and always had a composed, roguish air, now, with his eyes slightly red, he looked strangely pitiful, as if he had been bullied.
Remembering how he had toyed with her just moments before… Yu Jiao narrowed her eyes and ground her foot down maliciously.
“Figure it out yourself, little crybaby,” she said, her lips curling with malice.
“…”
Wei Changlin caught her foot, but he didn’t push it away. His long fingers wrapped around her ankle, as if he were actively offering himself up to be stepped on.
He lifted his sparkling eyes, his voice low and husky. “How dare you call someone else a little crybaby?”
A single, lingering teardrop clung to the young woman’s eyelashes. She wiped it away carelessly. “It was an act,” she said, unconcerned.
Wei Changlin: “…”
“Alright.”
Yu Jiao pulled her foot back and held out her arms to him. “It’s time to elope.”
Outside, the sound of pursuit rushed towards them.
But now, Yu Jiao was not anxious at all. She knew this pervert would have a way.
The pervert’s fingers curled slightly, suppressing a strange sense of regret. After taking a deep breath to quell his desire, he leaned down and lifted her into a bridal carry, humming, “Didn’t you just forbid me from touching you?”
Yu Jiao was unconcerned. “I’m just using you as a mode of transportation. Don’t flatter yourself.”
Wei Changlin chuckled. “Then hold on tight.”
He carried her through a field of swaying tree shadows and out of the greenhouse.
The night was cool.
The Xie Manor was as vast as a man-eating monster. A few flashlight beams swept over from the distance, the monster’s angry, searching eyes.
Locked on.
Wei Changlin showed no fear. With a carefree and triumphant air, he stood his ground, holding her. The night wind whipped his hair and clothes about him. He considerately shielded the young woman in his arms from the wind.
But he couldn’t block the two cold, dark gazes.
Like deadly blades, the twins stood in the center of a menacing group of blood servants, facing them from a distance.
In the flashlight beams, they could see the young woman buried deep in the culprit’s chest, looking weak, helpless, and dependent. The tips of her ears, peeking out from her long, black hair, were bright red.
As if thinking of something, the twins’ gazes instantly darkened, and a killing intent filled the air.
“Put her down,” Xie Yanchuan said coldly.
A soft laugh.
Under the two murderous gazes, Wei Changlin lowered his head and kissed the top of the young woman’s head. He looked up, his gaze a provocative challenge. “Don’t be so full of yourselves. If your skills are lacking, you should be prepared to be abandoned.”
“…”
Yu Jiao, who had been playing dead in his arms, was stunned for a moment. What… what is this guy saying?!
His highly suggestive, malicious taunt successfully added fuel to the fire.
Crack, crack.
The sound of grating joints.
Xie Zhenye’s voice was full of a fierce aura. “You’re looking to die.”
The next moment, he attacked.
Under the powerful, murderous assault, Wei Changlin held her steady, only nimbly dodging.
Shing! A blade flashed.
A lock of his hair was cut off. Xie Yanchuan appeared behind him like a ghost, and, in perfect sync with his brother, forced him to retreat.
Even so, Wei Changlin did not look the least bit flustered.
As he moved gracefully, he kicked up stones and fallen leaves. An invisible current of air began to circulate.
The twins’ attacks grew fiercer, and they seemed to have the upper hand. Just then, Wei Changlin muttered something. As the strange syllables fell, the stones he had swept up trembled slightly.
The array was complete. A fierce wind rose, and the fallen leaves flew like blades.
The people in the array covered their faces with their sleeves. When the wind stopped and the leaves scattered, the twins looked around, but they could no longer find the culprit.
Suddenly, a light laugh came from an unknown direction.
He said, from a superior height, “A gift for you.”
As his words fell, a white object drifted down from a tree. Xie Yanchuan reached out and caught it.
Xie Zhenye frowned. “What is it?”
Xie Yanchuan looked down at it for two seconds, then handed it to him, a cold, unreadable sneer on his lips. “A challenge.”
Xie Zhenye took it.
It was a mask. From the number, it was the mask of the blood servant Wei Changlin had replaced.
…There were suspicious wet marks on it.
Crack.
Xie Zhenye’s face was blank as he crushed the mask.
…
Crunch.
He stepped on a fallen leaf.
“Why are we back at the academy?” Yu Jiao asked, looking around.
Wei Changlin looked down and blinked mysteriously. “I’m taking you to my secret base.”
He carried her and, with light steps, leaped onto a tree branch, dodging the patrolling security guards. He nimbly stepped on thin branches, moving through the tall trees.
Soon, she knew what this ‘secret base’ was.
A dusty concrete floor, mottled white walls, cigarette butts, lighter fragments, and a solitary wooden box.
This was the abandoned old school building.
Walking past the mess left from the previous fight, Yu Jiao looked up at him and asked, “So the day I was kidnapped, you were here too?”
Wei Changlin hummed, stuck his hands in his pockets, and stared straight ahead, looking like a cool, untamed guy. He said in a light tone:
“Otherwise, do you think that idiot blood-race member, who couldn’t even handle that madwoman, could have just happened to open the wooden box?”
Yu Jiao’s eyebrow arched.
Staring at his tense jawline, she suddenly burst out laughing.
Wei Changlin: “…What are you laughing at?”
He still didn’t look at her.
He reached out a long arm, hooked it around her neck, and pulled her along, saying, “Hurry up. Don’t get caught by the patrolling security guards.”
The two of them arrived at an unremarkable wall. Wei Changlin stepped forward and pressed a few spots. With a low rumble, the floor slid open, revealing a narrow staircase leading down.
Yu Jiao clicked her tongue in amazement. “You’ve really infiltrated the enemy’s ranks.”
“That’s right,” Wei Changlin raised an eyebrow and smiled. “And I’ve captured the enemy’s princess.”
Under her speechless eye-roll, he went down the secret passage first, then held out a hand to her.
“Come, Your Highness.”
He tilted his head up, a smile on his lips, his gaze focused.
Though he was wearing a completely unmemorable fake face, because of his bewitching peach-blossom eyes, his entire being seemed to glow.
A well-defined hand was offered to her.
Yu Jiao placed her hand in his and, with his considerate help, entered the secret passage.
The floor automatically sealed, and the narrow passage was pitch black.
In this cold, dark place, their joined hands were the only reliable and warm connection.
Perhaps it was because the space was too small, the passage too long, and the oxygen growing thin.
Neither of them spoke, and the sound of their breathing was exceptionally clear.
His large, dry hand enveloped hers, and she could almost feel the blood flowing beneath his skin and his heavy, rapid heartbeat.
Suddenly, he stopped and turned around.
She could feel his scorching gaze on her.
A strange silence.
“…”
After a moment, he cleared his throat.
“Now…”
His voice was low and husky, as if a feather had gotten stuck in his throat.
“May I request to touch you?”
Because the stairs were steep, he was standing two steps below her. He tilted his head up slightly, waiting for her answer.
Like a devout believer.
In the darkness, she couldn’t see anything. So she raised her hand and, by feel, traced his face.
Her slender fingers were cool as they moved over him, as if she were trying to make out his features.
…Deep-set eyes, a high-bridged nose, soft lips, a hard chin.
The unreadable caress made him blink, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“So—”
Before he could finish, her cool hand lifted his chin, and then, two soft lips pressed against his.
He froze for a moment. After a light bite, he seemed to snap out of his daze. He seized her slender waist and pressed her against the wall.
Before he began to touch her, he leaned in close to her ear and teased, “Here, even if your heart explodes and you scream, no one will find you.”
Hearing this, Yu Jiao pinched his firm waist. “Shut up and get to work.”
As if he were filled with overflowing sweet water, his tone was filled with an unstoppable smile. “Alright, Your Highness.”
“…”
This place was indeed safe, secret, and dark, very suitable for flirting.
The two of them were like a spark to a flame, throwing themselves into the kiss.
In the heat of the moment.
Just as he was about to advance, a low, angry roar of a beast came from below, accompanied by the sound of something crashing against the walls.
The vibrations reached them, and dust rained down.
“…What was that sound?” Yu Jiao gasped, pushing him away.
The tall man reluctantly nuzzled her and answered in a husky voice, “An experiment. Tsk, what a dog’s nose.”
“Experiment?”
Amidst the increasingly ferocious roars of the beast, Wei Changlin took a deep breath and stood up.
“Come on. I’ll take you to see it.”
…
They left the secret passage and arrived in a spacious, dim basement.
Here, there were countless bottles and jars, strange diagrams and props, a mess, yet orderly.
It looked like the lair of an evil wizard, practicing some forbidden art.
Yu Jiao looked at the evil wizard before her. In the dim, yellow light, his disguised face was somewhat blurry, his cool, sharp aura more prominent.
Yu Jiao asked thoughtfully, “Who are you? What is your goal?”
Wei Changlin’s lips curved, his voice light and leisurely. “Darkness and light are born together. The blood race is so powerful, so of course there will be a force that opposes them.”
Just then, a loud crashing sound came from the depths of the basement, like an impatient reminder.
“Let’s go,” Wei Changlin narrowed his eyes, his tone meaningful. “It’s dying of impatience.”
Yu Jiao slowly frowned and followed him through a deep, long corridor to a damp, dark dungeon.
There, inside a rusty iron cage, a huge figure was quietly crouched in a dark corner, a thick chain around its neck.
It was at least two meters tall, with defined muscles, and its body was covered in a thick, coarse fur. It was sitting with its long, strong legs crossed, its upper body hidden in the darkness. She could faintly make out the silhouette of a wolf’s head.
A… beastman?
Yu Jiao’s eyes widened in surprise. “What is this?”
Wei Changlin crossed his arms, his deep gaze fixed on the monster. “That… is a rare child with the bloodline of a werewolf.”
Yu Jiao paused.
…Right. After all, this game world was based on a vampire worldview.
Actually, by human standards, it had a perfect physique, but because of the fur and the beast’s head, this ‘perfection’ was twisted into something horrifying and bizarre.
As if sensing her gaze, it curled its sharp claws.
Wei Changlin chuckled and added leisurely, “And it will be a sharp sword, pointed at the blood race.”
Yu Jiao looked at him silently.
“When the time comes, the old and young of the blood race will be very surprised to see it. Who would have thought that it is actually…”
Before he could finish, the monster suddenly roared and pounded the ground, as if in warning.
The ground shook, and the dim ceiling lamp swayed, casting strange, dancing shadows.
Wei Changlin steadied her.
The rattling of the chains stopped. The monster ceased its roaring and struggling, and a strange silence fell in the dungeon.
Wei Changlin smiled and stopped talking. “Let’s go, Your Highness.”
He wrapped an arm around her and, like a boneless creature, leaned his full weight on her.
Yu Jiao couldn’t push him away. As she struggled, she accidentally met a pair of golden, vertical pupils. She froze.
What kind of eyes were those… like flames in the darkness, brilliant, intense, yet on the verge of despair, suppressing a madness.
Suddenly, a large, well-defined hand gently covered her eyes. Wei Changlin’s low, husky voice sounded by her ear, “Alright now. If you look too long, you’ll have nightmares.”
“…”
For some reason, she felt that the monster would be sad to hear that.
As he was forcibly pulling her away, she suddenly looked back.
There, the monster’s huge, ferocious figure froze, and it abruptly looked away.
The emotion in its eyes… was it pain?